--- title: Donald Trump TIME Magazine Person of the Year Poll description: 'Even if I deserve it, they can't do it' canonical: https://time.com/4124277/donald-trump-person-of-the-year/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-23T17:16:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:50:58.353Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump TIME Magazine Person of the Year Poll og:description: 'Even if I deserve it, they can't do it' og:url: https://time.com/4124277/donald-trump-person-of-the-year/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a47c4a07ee3aa01/6988725d0b72e369e46e6f3c/trump-rally-alabama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a rally at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Complex in Birmingham og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump TIME Magazine Person of the Year Poll twitter:description: 'Even if I deserve it, they can't do it' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a47c4a07ee3aa01/6988725d0b72e369e46e6f3c/trump-rally-alabama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Challenges TIME to Make Him Person of the Year > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Nov 23, 2015 5:16 PM UTC  Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Birmingham, Ala., on Nov. 21, 2015. Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Birmingham, Ala., on Nov. 21, 2015. Marvin Gentry—Reuters by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Nov 23, 2015 5:16 PM UTC [_Cast your vote here._](http://time.com/4108617/person-of-the-year-poll-2015/) With eleven days left to go before TIME’s 2015 [Person of the Year poll](http://time.com/4110428/person-of-the-year-readers-poll-results-2015/) come to a close, Donald Trump is currently trailing Bernie Sanders and nine other figures in the annual reader poll but that hasn’t stopped the Republican presidential candidate from speculating that he will receive the recognition in December. “We have somebody from TIME magazine here,” the billionaire real estate mogul told a crowd of supporters in Birmingham, Alabama Saturday. “You know I was on the cover recently. Now they’re here again, so I assume they’re considering me for man of the year. I say there’s no way they give it to me. They can’t. Because, mentally, they can’t. They just can’t. They can’t do it. Even if I deserve it, they can’t do it.” Trump also trails Pope Francis and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama, as well as entertainers like Adele (2%) and Jennifer Lawrence (1.7%) in the Person of the Year poll. Trump currently leads the Republican presidential field in national polling as well as polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, the key early voting states. TIME’s editors will choose the Person of the Year, the person TIME believes most influenced the news this year for better or worse, but that doesn’t mean readers shouldn’t have their say. 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